Race To The Finish
by hallow777
Summary: Castle decides its time to stop shadowing Beckett, but then he gets a call from Esposito that turns his world upside down. Beckett has gone missing! Can Castle and/or Demming solve the case and save her before it is too late? Completed!
1. The Beginning

**This is probably the shortest thing I have ever posted... But I wanted to know what you guys thought about this before I went much further. **

**My take on what should have happened for the finale. (sort of)**

**I do NOT own Castle!**

**SLIGHT SPOILER FOR FINALE! Just the poker game part though.**

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Richard Castle sat at his desk with a large cup of coffee in his hand. All night he had tossed and turned, unable to get to sleep until finally, he gave up and went into his office around four in the morning. He knew it was because of the talk he had had with his writer pals over poker earlier that night.

Was he really ready to walk away from Detective Beckett? He certainly had enough information to write plenty more books but, could they be right? Was shadowing Beckett really doing more harm than good? When they first brought it up, he thought there was no way he could do that but, then he started thinking about it. Thinking that maybe things would be better this way. If they were right, and Beckett was why he couldn't write then he could get on with the Nikki Heat books and Beckett would be happy with him gone so she could be with Demming all she wanted. Professionally, it seemed as if leaving Beckett, and of course the other guys in the precinct, would be for the best. Personally, was a whole other story though.

His thoughts went on and on throughout the night, trying to decide what would be best choice. Now it was nearing eight o'clock and he had finally come to a decision. It wasn't a decision he completely liked but he believed it was for the best.

They couldn't go on like this; the next case they worked would be his last.

It was only a few minutes later when Alexis came down stairs, on her way to school. He saw her off with a smile and then went back to his office, intending to get some work done on his book. He had put it off long enough.

A few minutes later, he found himself staring a blank page, wondering how he was going to break the news to them. As fate would have it, his phone rang at that moment.

He picked up the phone and answered it without bothering to look at the caller ID because everyone else knew not to bother him early in the morning.

"You guys make it really hard to get any writing done, you know?"

He was expecting a clever retort from the female detective on the other end of the line but instead, it was a male voice that responded.

"Dude, this is not the time to be worried about writing. Beckett is missing."

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**Okay, since the day the episode aired with Demming in it, I have thought about doing this story but eventually decided not to but then decided to again. So I am really not sure about this one... It would be the first serious/dramatic Castle fic I have written.**

**So I really need to know if you think this would be a good story or not. If you guys seem to like it then I'll post the next chapter tomorrow before the finale.**


	2. The Realization

**Still not completely sure if I should go on with this story but I did promise another chapter before the Finale tonight so here it is.**

**Also, um... is there even a missing persons team/section/division? And does it have a name? Like how murder is the homicide division?**

**I do NOT own Castle!**

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Missing? How could she be missing? Castle couldn't think of anything but her as he hailed a cab and headed over to Kate's new apartment. It was actually only a few blocks away and he could have walked there but he figured that taking a cab would be faster. And he was right, within ten minutes of Esposito's phone call, he was walking down the hallway to her apartment.

As usual, there were cops everywhere, asking neighbors and checking things out but that was the only thing that was normal.

Castle walked into her apartment after mentally preparing himself for what he would see. He expected the place to be ransacked or at least torn up in a struggle but it looked as if there was not a single thing misplaced. Though it was hard to tell because most of her stuff was still in boxes since she hadn't had time to unpack everything yet.

He paused to ask the nearest officer where the guys were and he directed him towards what Castle assumed was her bedroom. Inside, the bedroom was the same as the living room, just with fewer boxes.

Esposito, Ryan, and much to Castle's displeasure, Demming were all standing around discussing something but immediately stopped when he walked in.

_That can't be good. _

"What's going on?" Ryan and Esposito looked at each other as if trying to decide who should tell him but it was Ryan who finally spoke up.

"We don't know."

"You… don't know?" Castle replied incredulously. But they only nodded.

"Yeah, yesterday the Captain asked Beckett to come in at seven to go over something. Only, she didn't show. We both got in around seven-thirty and she still wasn't there so we tried to call but no one answered." Ryan stopped to take a breath and Esposito picked up where he left off.

"Normally, we'd just assume that she forgot or slept in or something but this is Beckett, you know? She just doesn't do that. So we convinced the captain to let us go get her but when we got here this is what we found. " He paused and they all took a look around the room. "Nothing seems disturbed at all. It's like she just got up and left. But again, Beckett wouldn't do that. She would at least tell someone she was going somewhere."

Castle listened intently to them, taking in all the information and trying to process it. If this was a normal case, he would be spouting off theories about alien abduction or spies but this wasn't a normal case. This was about Beckett.

"Is it really so strange to think that maybe she just wanted to get away from everything for a while?"

Three heads turned towards Demming and he was met with a simultaneous "Yes" and he held his hands up in defense.

"Okay,okay. I want her back as much as you do but, I've worked missing person cases before. With no evidence of foul play like this, they are going to assume she just ran away."

"He's right you know. If we don't find something that signifies that she has been taken against her will then there isn't much we can do. Even if she is one of our own."

Castle turned to see Captain Montgomery standing in the doorway. Was there really nothing they could do? Of course they were homicide and missing persons wasn't exactly their territory but they couldn't just sit back and watch. There had to be something. Something out of place, but what?

Castle pushed past Demming and started looking around the room in detail. This was the first time he had ever been in her bedroom before so he wasn't sure that he could spot something out of place even if there was anything, but he looked anyway. The thoughts that had kept him up all night and had been the center of his focus mere minutes ago where nowhere to be found. All he could think of was finding Beckett.

Ryan and Esposito watched as he worked his way around the room. They had both been over the room but they hadn't found anything so it was unlikely that he would find something they missed but they desperately hoped that he did.

"Castle, we already went over the room before you got here."

"I know, but I want to look for myself." He replied to Demming without even pausing in his search.

Demming shrugged and let Castle continue his search, but it was only a few minutes before the captain interrupted them again.

"Sorry guys but, the other team is here now. We need to leave so they can do their thing."

_No!_ _Not yet!_ Castle frantically quickened his pace, which wasn't saying much since he was now crawling on his hands and knees between her bed and dresser.

"Come on, Castle. I don't want to go either but we have to." Esposito moved over to Castle, wondering if he was going to have to bodily move the guy.

"Sorry, homicide guys, but it's time for you to leave."

Castle looked up to see a group of people standing around the door way and assumed they were the missing persons team but he didn't want to leave. He hadn't found anything yet.

"Let's go, Castle." Demming walked over, grabbed Castle by the arm and hauled him up. But, Castle's foot got caught in the sheet, that was apparently too big for the bed since it was hanging off on the floor a bit, and he went sprawling to the floor. Annoyed at Demming, since that was obviously all his fault, Castle braced himself on his arms so he could push himself off the floor when his eyes caught sight of something shiny slightly sticking out from behind the dresser.

Ignoring the guys who were getting annoyed at him, he moved forward and carefully pulled out the shiny thing.

He stood up, torn between feeling happy that he managed to find something and sad because of what it meant.

"Guys, I found something."

He held up his finding and they all watched as the ring twirled around on the other end of the chain that Castle was holding up.

Demming was the first to speak.

"A ring, Castle? What does an old ring that she obviously doesn't care much about, since it was behind the dresser, have to do with anything?"

He turned towards him with a slight smirk on his face, pleased that he knew something about Beckett that she obviously hadn't felt the need to share with Demming.

"It is her mother's ring. She doesn't go anywhere without it and she would never leave it behind her dresser, because she wears it every day." With that, he turned to address Ryan and Esposito.

"So, everything else is normal yet she doesn't wear her mother's ring. I'm thinking she left it on purpose. Maybe the kidnapper forced her to make it look like she had just left so we would think she ran away? I checked earlier and her father's watch is gone so the kidnapper probably knew that she wore that all the time but didn't know about her mom's ring since she keeps it hidden most of the time. She could have pushed it off the dresser while the kidnapper wasn't looking."

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**I'm still not sure of my ability to do this story so If you want to see more chapters you need to review so I know that there are actually people that like the story and have faith that I can actually do it lol!**


	3. The Lead

**This is probably the longest I have ever spent writing a chapter... I usually get inspired and write for a couple hours then the chapter is done but this has taken me three days go get right! This chapter was actually supposed to be longer but, there are a few things I still need to work out for something that happens in the next chapter so I figured I would go ahead and stop this chapter here.**

**Quite a few forward time skips going on in this chapter, so I hope that doesn't annoy anyone but they are nessecary so that this story doesn't turn into a 40-50 chapter monster XD I'm not actually sure how long this story will be but less than 20 I hope.**

**I do NOT own Castle!**

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Once Castle found the ring, and the case was officially declared a kidnapping, the detectives headed back to the precinct with the head of the missing persons unit. The rest of the unit and CSU stayed behind to finish collecting any and all the evidence they could find. Which included the ring but Castle was hesitant to give it up.

"Mr. Castle, I'm sorry but that is evidence. We have to tag and bag it." Castle grimaced at the man who was holding his gloved hand out, waiting for the ring.

"I've seen what happens to the evidence… that storage room is like a black hole! This is the first thing she is going to want when we find her. You don't want to face an angry Kate Beckett because you lost her mother's precious ring do you?" The man paled and stared at the ring for a minute.

"You know what? Why don't you just hold on to it for us? I'll just take a picture of it…" Castle happily obliged and held out his hand with the ring as the man took a picture of it and then hurried off. Apparently, Kate had quite a few people afraid of her wrath.

Ryan called out for him to hurry up, so Castle quickly made his way out of the room but not before slipping the chain with the ring over his head. The metal felt cool on his chest as he carefully concealed it underneath his shirt. After all, it wouldn't do for them to see him wearing such a girly necklace. He wanted to be the one to give her back her ring, simply because he wanted to see her face light up in a grin, just for him, as he handed it back to her. The fact that they might not find her in time never crossed his mind. He was determined, and nothing stood in Richard Castle's way when he was this determined. They would find her. Alive. They had to.

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Detective Grubbs was a middle aged, balding man that didn't look very friendly and it was clear that Ryan and Esposito were ready to fight to stay on the case but thankfully there wasn't a need.

"Alright, normally I'd just kick you youngens out and do this case myself but I've worked with Beckett before and she always brags about her team. If anyone can find her, it's the homicide team but I'll still be tagging along to offer my expertise."

The detectives, and Castle, all visibly relaxed at that, knowing that they would get to be a part of the investigation even though Grubbs could rightfully keep them out of it if he felt like it.

After those things were settled, the boys got down to business.

"Dude, I don't even know where to start with all this…" Esposito spoke up, turning towards Castle, hoping that he had some ideas. And he already knew where they would start but Demming cut him off and stole his idea.

"We should start by looking at recently released criminals that Kate put in jail. Its probably someone looking for revenge that did this."

Ryan and Esposito both agreed and they headed over to their desks to start pulling files while Demming watched them. Castle, on the other hand, headed over to the murder board and started turning it into a kidnapping board by putting down all the facts that they had. They didn't know much yet, so the board looked empty even after he got through but he knew that writing things down like this helped him think. Plus, it was always the first thing that Kate did when she got back from looking at a crime scene.

Castle was just coming back from the break room with a steaming cup of coffee, which felt weird since he had to remind himself _not_ to make one for Beckett too, when Ryan jumped out of his seat and frantically waved for him, along with the captain and Detective Grubbs, to come over.

"We've found a few guys that fit the bill so far but, they were all on parole and have easily checked solid alibis. Then we find this guy, Robert Kegel. A man Beckett put away in her rookie years for violent assault and attempting kidnapping. Says he's pretty handy with locks too."

The males all shared a look and then the captain spoke up, sending Ryan and Esposito flying out the door in record time.

"Bring this dirt bag in, I think we need to have a talk with him."

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Robert Kegel was a man in his early thirties with tattoos every where they could see, not to mention the nice bruise on the side of his face he was now sporting after he tried to run away when the cops showed up. The guy ran straight into a closed door in his attempt to get away from them.

"You obviously don't want to be here, have someone you need to get back to in a hurry Mr. Kegel?" Demming asked Robert but he just remained silent.

"No, alright, I'll just get to the point anyway. Where were you last night?"

Robert stared at Demming then glanced at Castle who was sitting next to Demming, being rather quiet for once. He wasn't sure if he would be able to keep calm if he opened his mouth so he reluctantly sat back and let Demming take the lead.

"Can ya be a little more specific?"

"Not really, just answer the question."

Robert seemed to get a confused look on his face but then shrugged. "Well from about nine to midnight, I was out at a bar drinking with some of my buddies then after that we all went back and crashed at my bud Bill's house. I was there until ten this morning."

"I'm going to need the names of those people."

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"It's not him."

Demming turned to look at Castle as they walked out of the interrogation room. "Really, and what makes you say that?"

"He didn't fidget at all. And, I don't know, I just don't think its him. It's too simple."

"This isn't one of your fiction books, Castle. Sometimes, things are simple and you should be hoping that it is that simple so we can get her back."

"Sorry to break this up guys, but me and Ryan here will run down his alibi. You two should go home and rest up for tomorrow." They both started to protest but Esposito held up his hand and silenced them before going on. "I know you don't want to, but there is nothing else we can do right now. We don't have any other leads to go on so you might as well rest up for tomorrow when hopefully, we will have something else to investigate."

Reluctantly, Demming and Castle left the bull pen. Demming headed back to the robbery division to do some paperwork while Castle headed home.

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The Castles were a tight knit group so it didn't take long for Alexis and Martha to figure out that something was wrong when Castle walked through the front door.

"Dad?"

Castle looked up and managed a small smile for her then wrapped her and Martha in a hug before moving to sit on the couch.

"Beckett has been taken."

Martha gasped while Alexis just stared at him with a look of shock and horror across her face. Martha stood up and patted him on the knee, telling him that she was going to call Chet and tell him that she was staying over here for the night. When she got back, he gave them a little more information.

"She was kidnapped some time during the night but we aren't sure what time. The guys said that she left about ten last night and we know she made it home because the clothes she was wearing the day were in the clothes hamper. This guy is smart too. The apartment looks normal and there was nothing turned over or anything to indicate a struggle or anything. He made her make it look like she had just left or run away and everyone was starting to think that until I found her mother's ring that had fallen behind the dresser." His hand reached up to finger the ring that was still resting against his chest.

Martha scooted over and rested her hand on his shoulder while Alexis curled up into his side.

"You'll get her back, Dad, I know you will. I bet she knows it too."

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**Sorry if Castle seems a little out of character but he is still slightly in shock about things going on and with only one lead to go on he really doesn't know what to do. And probably feels a little useless in front of Wonder Boy/Super Cop Demming.**

**Review? Please? **

**Now... lets see if I can focus on writing a chapter for a different story now that I got this chapter out... Curse my forever wandering mind!**


	4. The Alibi

**This one is a little short but still important and I didn't want to get into the next part because then I would probably turn into a huge chapter.**

**I do NOT own Castle!**

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Despite only getting a few hours sleep, thanks to his over active imagination that was coming up with all kinds of horrible scenarios, Richard Castle was at the precinct bright and early the next morning. He wanted to get there before Demming, but unfortunately they had gotten there at the same time and even had to endure an uncomfortable ride in the elevator together. When they made it up to the homicide floor, they saw Esposito and Ryan sitting at their desks, talking on the phone. Castle and Demming had to wait a few minutes until Esposito finished his conversation with the person on the other end of the phone call.

"We tried asking Kegal's friends last night but no one knew how to get a hold of them, so we had some officers running them down while we got a couple hours of sleep. They just now managed to get a hold of a few of them an hour ago. The two that I talked to, were so drunk that night they couldn't even remember whose house they had stayed at, though they remember Kegel being with them. Sounds like Ryan didn't have much luck with the two that he talked to either but he is talking with a third one now."

_Take that, Schlemming! I told you he isn't our guy._

Their attention was directed to Ryan as they heard him put down the phone, looking up at them with an excited sparkle in his eyes.

"I just talked to Bill. You know, the one whose house they crashed at? Well, turns out he didn't drink as much as the rest and he remembered that Kegel was with them when they crashed at the house. But here's the thing, he got up in the middle of the night and saw Kegel sneaking out the door around two in the morning. He came back around nine and pretended he had been there all night."

"Let's go have a little chat with our friend, Robert." Esposito turned and they all followed him as he had an officer bring Robert out of holding and place him one of the interrogation rooms. Demming walked straight into the room like he owned the place, but Castle stayed behind, opting to watch from the other room.

He was happy that if this was their guy, then they would get Kate back soon, but on the other hand he still didn't feel like this was the right guy. It was just too easy. And maybe he was just a little irritated that Demming had been right. Swallowing his pride for now, Castle leaned against the wall and watched as Demming and Esposito interrogated Robert Kegel.

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"Damn! Damn! Damn!"

"We know, man. We feel you. I can't believe it turned out like that. I guess Castle was right after all. He really wasn't our guy."

Demming grunted at Esposito in agreement then took up his cursing and pacing again. The interrogation had turned out to be a bust. The guy had pretended to get drunk with his friends and snuck out without them knowing so that he would have an alibi. But instead of committing a kidnapping, he had gone out to steal an expensive piece of jewelry for his drug dealer because he didn't have enough money to pay for his goods. After they found out what he was really doing, they sent a team to check out the place he had robbed and found enough evidence to show that he really was the one that committed the crime and the Demming got the pleasure of arresting him.

But now they were back to square one. Absolutely nothing to go on and it had already been twenty four hours since she had gone missing.

Esposito and Ryan went back to looking over the list of people where they had found Robert Kegel, hoping that maybe someone else would come up. While they were doing that, Demming took off to the robbery division and Castle went to talk to the Captain about what they found.

When Castle had finished talking to the Captain, he walked back out to see an unfamiliar face standing around Esposito's desk.

"Um, hello? Who are you?" Castle walked closer to the man, taking in his appearance. He was young man, maybe a few years younger than Beckett, who had short dirty blond hair and green eyes. There wasn't much else distinctive about him, in fact he looked rather plain but he had the 'take no crap' look of a cop.

"He's with me, Castle." Demming walked out of the break room with a cup of coffee in his hands then addressed Ryan and Esposito who were just coming into the bull pen as well.

"This is Jesse Clark, he has worked with me on a number of cases in Robbery and he used to be in the missing persons division before he transferred here. I thought he might be helpful so I asked him to help us."

The guys greeted the man and he gave them a dazzling smile in return and they warmed up to him quickly because he was very easy to get along with. They talked about the case and told him what they knew and he added some insight that he had learned when he worked in missing persons. After a while, Jesse mentioned he could use some coffee and Ryan told him about the espresso machine in the break room. He stood up and walked past Castle on his way to the break room and Castle's head whipped around faster than he thought possible. Esposito had seen what Castle did and sent him a questioning look but Castle waved it off as nothing.

_I really need to get some more sleep. I won't be any help in finding her if I am seeing, or rather smelling, things that aren't there._

Because really, there was no way that any self respecting man would smell like cherries.

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**Poor Castle, now he's smelling things. ^.^ Because you know, Castle just doesn't do normal. He can't just 'see' things like a normal delusional person. No, he has to 'smell' things. **


	5. The Letter

**Again, kind of short but bare with me here, I'm writing through a slump and its not easy... If I didn't already have this chapter planned out it would probably still be a while before I actually got it written.**

**I do NOT own Castle!**

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Jesse turned out to have quite a few ideas for them to check out but none of them yielded anything useful. The sun had already set, and frustration levels were through the roof. Assuming that Beckett was taken late at night, it was getting uncomfortably close to the forty eight hour mark, yet they had absolutely nothing to go on.

Ryan and Esposito were busy working on any small lead that they got, and trying to stay out of the way of the frustrated detective and writer. Both Castle and Demming were feeling useless and helpless, something that neither of them dealt well with.

Castle got up to fix himself yet another cup of coffee, and on the way back he wasn't paying attention to where he was going and ended up spilling the hot coffee all over Demming. Demming started yelling at him, but Castle wasn't really paying too much attention and just started cleaning the coffee up off the floor. When Castle finished wiping up the rest of the coffee, he stood back up, noticing that the captain was standing in the door way. It wasn't much of a surprised when he ordered them both to go home for the night, but it was a surprise that Castle went without much of a fight.

He was mentally and physically exhausted; the only thing keeping his body moving was the massive amounts of caffeine in his system. He made his way into his apartment much like he did the night before, but this time he couldn't stand to talk about it so when Alexis looked at him with a hopeful expression, he just shook his head and headed to his room where he collapsed on the bed. Castle felt a sense of guilt as his thoughts strayed to Beckett, thinking that she was probably alone and maybe even injured while he was lying in a comfortable bed. Despite his thoughts, his exhaustion eventually won out and he drifted off into a surprisingly restful sleep.

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7:00 AM Third Day

Richard Castle strolled into the precinct, face arranged into a determined expression. Today was the day they were going to find her. He just knew it.

He had slept amazingly well last night and was ready to look at this case with a fresh set of eyes.

Everyone else was already crowded around Beckett's desk, including Detective Grubbs, so Castle walked right up to them and started talking.

"Guys, this whole time we have been looking for people that she put in jail, right? But what if it isn't someone that she put away? What if it's someone from her past? Maybe it's even connected to her mother's case. We need to widen our search area some more. We are being too closed minded about this."

Everyone just stared at him for a minute before there was a flurry of motion as everyone rushed to follow the new angles. Castle sat down heavily in his rightful place next to Beckett's desk, and felt the cool metal of her mother's ring hit his chest after it was lifted by the movement. His hand came up to finger the ring but before he could get lost in any thoughts about her, Jesse moved over and leaned against the other side of her desk.

"What makes you think it's someone from her past? Isn't it easier to believe that it's someone looking for revenge because she put them in jail?"

Castle looked up and studied the man a bit before replying. "It is true that its more likely to be someone looking for revenge but, seeing as we haven't found anything useful, I think it's time to start looking at some other angles. Don't you think so too?"

Jesse didn't get a chance to reply to him as a young officer pushing a cart of mail stopped at Beckett's desk and asked what he should do with her mail. Jesse told him that he would take care of the mail and was handed a decent sized stack of letters.

Normally, Castle would be curious about what kind of letters Beckett got in the mail, but now wasn't the time to be playing around so he let Jesse go through her mail. Castle quickly regretted not going through it himself when Jesse pulled a plain looking envelope out of the pile and called the rest of the guys over.

The letter was a regular white one, addressed to Beckett, but it had no return address, and while it had a stamp it had no post mark which is what tipped Jesse off.

At a nod from Demming, Jesse carefully opened the envelope and pulled out a piece of paper, laying it on the desk so that everyone could read it.

_To the homicide team investigating Katherine Beckett's disappearance,_

_Why are you still searching for her? Maybe it's already too late! Hmm, I wonder… Should I leave her body for you to find? Or shall I hide it where no one will ever find her and let you all wonder for the rest of your lives? _

_I tried to tell her, tried to get her to understand that she had the wrong guy, that I was innocent. But no, she took one look at my file and saw that I was legally insane and had me sent away._

_But none of that matters anymore, nope not at all. You know why? Because she is mine now. And just like she didn't listen to me all those years ago, I don't listen to her as she screams and begs me to let her go…_

Castle felt the small breakfast that he had consumed before coming to the precinct rise up in the back of his throat and he was sure that he was going to have to excuse himself to the bathroom but, he managed to get it under control. No one knew what to say after reading that.

"Let-Let's get this down to the lab and have them check for fingerprints." Demming spoke up then motioned for an officer that was nearby to take it down to the lab. As the officer left, Demming reminded him to tell the lab techs to exclude Jesse's finger prints from the letter, seeing as he had already touched it with his bare hands before realizing that it was evidence.

"Alright, we have some new information now. We are looking for someone that Ka-Beckett put away who is legally insane. There can't be that many that fit that description." Demming was taking over the situation now as Castle just sat back in his chair and thought to himself. This whole letter deal didn't make sense to him at all.

_The criminal went out of his way to make sure nothing was disturbed in her apartment, to make it look like she had ran off on her own. That makes it seem there wasn't even a kidnapping in the first place, giving us absolutely nothing to go on but then he sends a letter with a huge clue right in the middle of it? Either this guy really is insane like the letter suggests, or this is just to throw us off… And how the hell did the letter get in with her other mail anyway? It had no post mark so it didn't actually go through a post office, so someone had to put it in with the mail sometime after the mail man delivered the regular mail and before Jesse found it._

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_**Um okay... I won't tell you the ending but! Let it be known that I love happy endings, okay? So no chasing after Hallow with pitchforks because of what you think is happening to Beckett.**

**Love the reviews, they let me know that someone actually wants to see what happens at the end of this story, and I also love hearing about your theories of what you think happened/ is happening/ will happen.**


	6. The Entertainment

**So you have wished it, so shall it be.**

**Not totally happy with this but, you guys wanted a chapter about Beckett so here you go. **

**I do NOT own Castle!**

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A groan slipped through her lips as she slipped back into the world of the waking and felt her neck protesting movement after having slept in such an odd position. Kate opened her eyes slowly and glanced around the room, seeing that the small, old bathroom was exactly the same as when she had fallen asleep last night. Or what she assumed was last night anyway, she didn't have any way of telling how much time had passed since there were no windows and her kidnapper had taken away her father's watch.

Another groan escaped her as she moved to sit up and her whole body protested the movement but, she expected it. After all, she had spent way too much time sitting in this dingy old, desperately in need of a deep cleaning, bathtub. The room was extremely small and while she could have sat on the floor, it was in worse shape than the bathtub. Plus, there were mice down there. She had counted five of them, scurrying back and forth across the floor at odd intervals, it's not like she actually had anything better to do since she had already tried everything she could think of to escape.

Apparently he had been planning for a while since he had bolted shackles into the wall of the bathroom, and they were put there expertly because no matter how many times she tried, they would not come loose. Thankfully they were only on her feet though. Her hands had originally been tied up with rope but she quickly got those undone within a few hours of being held there. The small sink had running water, though the pipes underneath were so rusty they wouldn't come loose. She'd tried. There wasn't even a mirror in the room.

The toilet worked, but the top had been sealed shut and wouldn't open. She'd tried that too.

The knobs for the bath worked as well, though there was no shower and the only thing she had managed to do with that was break off the faucet spout and that was what she had used to get the ropes off as it had a slightly sharp edge but other than that, it was useless too.

The door was made of some type of hard wood and while she might have been able to knock it down, the shackles around her ankles kept her from getting close enough to it.

_Damn it, what the hell is taking so long? Hurry up and find me!_

She knew that he had set up her apartment so that it looked like she had left of her own will, she could only hope that her mother's ring, that she had slipped behind the dresser, would give the guys investigating it a clue. Kate tried not to think that the people investigating it probably wouldn't even blink twice at the ring, just assume it was something that she didn't care about or didn't wear. Her only hope was that Castle would be his nosey self and start poking through her things.

Deciding that she had sat in that position long enough, she turned to where she could lean over the side of the tub and started watching the mice again. In a way she was kind of glad they were there, it gave her something to do. And thankfully, they were the cute little mice, not giant mutant rats.

She had just about decided that there was actually six, instead of five,when the door to the bathroom slammed open revealing the man who had forced her from her home. He looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn't remember his name, or even where she had seen him before. Which was strange, since after joining the police academy, she made it a point to remember as many people as possible.

He looked extremely pissed off, but then his gaze turned to Beckett and his eyes softened.

"My dear Katie, if only that dumbass hadn't given me more work to do, we could be together by now."

She grimaced at the thought of them being 'together' but he didn't notice and instead threw the fast food bag that he was carrying at her before leaving as quickly as he came. The first time he brought her food he tried to hand it to her but, she attempted to attack him, it was only because of the shackles that he was able to escape unscathed.

Kate set the bag on one of the less disgusting parts of the tub and considered not eating it, letting herself starve to death since it didn't seem like had any intention of letting her go or letting her die, but then her stomach rumbled so she gave in and ate the greasy food that was inside.

She tore a piece off of the burger and threw it to the other side of the room and watched as the mice attacked the bit of food eagerly. After she was done, she wadded the trash and left over food and stuffed it into the bag and threw it to the other side of the room as well. Kate crossed her legs, leaned back against the wall, and watched as her only entertainment attacked the bag.

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**Random mice... I hate mice... Yet, somehow they worked their way in here... I just started imagining the kind of place she was being held in and it just made sense to have mice. It was going to be rats but I got grossed out writing it so I changed it to mice. XD**

**Muhahahahahahahahahaha! Does this give you anymore ideas about who it could be or why he did it?**


	7. The Suspicion

**This chapter was so hard to get started but once I got going, the words just kept flowing out.**

**I do NOT own Castle!**

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8:00 AM Third Day

It had been a little less than an hour since Demming had gotten everyone to start looking for someone that Beckett had put away who was legally insane but so far it hadn't turned up anything. Seeing as Castle had no idea how to search for any files like that in the database, and since Beckett would never tell him the password for her computer, he didn't even have a computer to use and he was starting to feel very useless as everyone rushed around doing their own jobs to help save Beckett.

So, he sat in his chair next to Beckett's desk and thought about everything they knew so far. It didn't take him long for his thoughts to drift back to the letter and before he knew it, he was out of the chair and chasing down the young officer who had brought the mail. Its not like he suspected the guy of anything, he just wanted to know when the kidnapper had slipped the letter in.

It took a good ten minutes for him to track down the officer and when he did, he turned out to not be much help at all. Apparently he wasn't the official mail/errand guy; all the rookies traded off and today just happened to be his day. He did show Castle where the mail was picked up and after asking around a little more, he was pretty sure that there was no chance the kidnapper had been able to put the letter into the mail before the young officer had started his rounds with the mail cart.

It wasn't much but it was still something new they didn't know before so Castle headed back up to homicide just in time for the results of the letter to come back. It was a long shot to hope that the killer would be insane enough to leave his fingerprints on the letter so they weren't surprised when the results showed that only Jesse's prints were on it.

With a curse, Demming went back to ordering the rest of their makeshift team around, trying to get them to find something useful. Castle couldn't help but notice that Jesse seemed to be getting very irritated with Demming, but then again they all were. The man obviously didn't deal well with pressure, especially when he didn't have much to go on.

Not that he wasn't any less frustrated then Demming but, he could almost hear Beckett yelling at him saying that he was letting it get to him too much and to calm down and think clearly. So he was doing just that. As hard as it was, he knew he needed to step back from the case and think of it as if he was an outsider.

If this was a case that he and Beckett were working together, he knew that they would suspect the boyfriend first but, as much as he hated Demming, he knew that he was a good guy and wouldn't do that for any reason. Plus, the guy just isn't that good when it comes to acting, if he had anything to do with it they would have already found out.

If they were working on this case they would also look into anyone that was even a little bit suspicious there wasn't anyone. He went down a mental checklist of people, trying to remember if there was something that was even a little suspicious when he suddenly remembered that time that he had smelled cherries when Jesse had walked by.

At first he just brushed it off, thinking that he was delusional but the more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed. Though it was still a very unstable theory but it was the best one they had so far. Now, he just had to tell Demming.

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8:45 AM Third Day

"Are you out of your mind, Castle? Thinking that a fellow detective of mine who has been nothing but helpful during this investigation is behind all this? You have officially gone insane! How does Kate deal with you and your insane theories all the time?"

Castle winced as Demming didn't even bother to correct himself when he referred to her by her first name. He hated that he could call her that without Beckett getting mad. But, that wasn't the point right now.

"Do you have anything better? Look, I tracked down where the mail goes in and out and its highly unlikely that the letter was put in the mail before it was put in the cart and sent upstairs. There's just not enough time and there are cameras down there. If Jesse did it, he could have easily slipped it in when he accepted the mail. And since he was the one who opened the letter, his finger prints were easily explained away as well as any accidental DNA that might have gotten on the letter."

Demming looked about ready to explode and/or punch something but Castle wasn't going to back down. Not when they actually had a theory, no matter how unlikely it sounded.

"Let. It. Go. Castle. I've been friends with Jesse for years. He's a good guy and I refuse to even think that he could have a part in this, especially since you have no proof what so ever! Or even motive! Why would he do that? Huh, Castle? What are you going to tell me next? That aliens have brain washed him into kidnapping her for them?"

Castle clenched his hands into fists so tight that if his nails had been any longer they would have pierced his skin. He couldn't believe how hard headed Demming was being about this.

"Alien theories are reserved for cases that don't involve some I care about. Why won't you even give this idea a chance? It's better than anything you've come up with so far. Don't you want to find her alive? We're on a time limit here! We don't know if she's been given food or water or if she is even still alive, yet you won't even try a possible lead!"

"Because it's a fucking ridiculous lead, Castle! Of course I want to get to _my girlfriend_ as soon as possible so I refuse to go on a wild goose chase with one of your ridiculous leads! There is no way in hell that Jesse has anything to do with this! If we are pointing fingers here, why not suggest that one of your buddies, Ryan and Esposito, had something to do with it huh? That's just as likely as your theory so, drop it. This discussion is over."

Demming literally stormed out of the observation room that Castle had dragged him in to talk about his theory. At a loss for what to do, and still reeling from the "girlfriend" stab, Castle slowly made his way to the break room to get some much needed coffee.

He stood leaning against the counter while he waited for his coffee to brew, hand automatically going up to the ring that he hadn't taken off once in the three days he had had it. He turned the ring over and over in his fingers as he got lost in his thoughts.

_What if Demming is right? What if I am wrong? What if he had agreed and it did turn out to be a wild goose chase and because we were chasing this lead, we lost our chance to save her? No, stop thinking like that. We will find her. But, now what? Should I give up on this lead and help Demming? Or do I get to act all rouge and do this by myself? Ha, if Beckett was here she'd be yelling at me for even thinking of doing something like this by myself._

The "ding" of the coffee machine pulled him out of his thoughts and he picked up his cup before he turned around to see Ryan and Esposito staring at him strangely.

"What'd you do, bro? Demming is completely pissed out there."

He gave them a small smile. "We had a little argument. That's all."

Ryan plopped himself down on the break room couch and Esposito pulled up a chair, then they looked at him expectantly. "Well? Come on! If it got him that mad then we so want to hear it."

Seeing that they weren't going to leave him in peace anytime soon, Castle moved closer to them and told them about his theory. As he told them what he thought, he realized that it really did seem unlikely especially since his main piece of evidence was that he thought he smelt cherries. By the end of his little speech he was starting to feel like an idiot for even suggesting it and fully expected them to laugh outright at him but they only got thoughtful looks on their faces before glancing at each other then turning their attention back to him.

"Truth is, we've already gone through all the files of the people that Beckett has put away that are insane and two of them are safely locked away in a crazy house and the other is out but, the thing is, it's a little seventy year old woman. Not our most likely suspect. I've sure we can easily look up some things about our dear Detective Jesse Clark without drawing attention from either him or Demming."

That was definitely not what he expected them to say and it must have shown on his face.

"Your crazy theories usually end up being right or at least end up giving us some very useful information and if you thought this theory was good enough to tell Demming about it, well then, I think its worth checking out. Besides its not like we are doing anything useful for Demming right now."

Castle's shocked expression slowly melted into a sly smirk. Beckett would be furious with him if he attempted to follow this lead on his own but now, he had two fully trained detectives to watch his back.

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9:45 AM Third Day

Since their discussion in the break room, Ryan and Esposito had been glued to their computers, trying to find info on Jesse, while Castle had done his best to stay out of Demming's way because he really didn't want to tick him off anymore than he already was. So, he had spent the last hour stealthfully watching Jesse for any suspicious movements, while trying to guess the password to Beckett's computer just to have something else to do.

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10:00 AM Third Day

Almost right on the dot, Ryan stood up rather abruptly from his chair and, shrugging off the questioning stares, he headed into the break room but not even two minutes he came back out.

"Castle? Your stupid espresso machine is acting up again come fix it."

Castle was confused because one: The espresso machine had never messed up and two: Ryan knew very well how bad he was at fixing things.

But, Ryan was staring straight at him then turned towards Esposito. "We might need your help too." And then he understood. Nothing was wrong with the espresso machine at all.

Castle nodded then got up and headed straight for the break room, coming to a stop in front of the machine as the three of them tried to look as if they were huddling around the machine to fix it.

"Remember how you said it might be someone from her past? Well get this, Jesse Clark went into the police academy the same time that Beckett did. And while that's nothing surprising, I thought I should check it out some more and found out that he was her partner in the academy." At Castle's confused look he explained. "Along with learning drills and procedures they also taught us how to work in teams and pairs and you get paired with someone when you first start at the academy. But anyway, he was her partner there then even after they both graduated from the academy they both came to this precinct where Jesse went into missing persons for a while before transferring to robbery like Demming said. But, don't you think it's a little strange that he didn't mention that he knew her from before? It was a long time ago but I still remember who I was paired with and Beckett's not someone who is easy to forget."

Ryan stopped to let the information sink in and it was Esposito who spoke up first.

"Well, sounds like there might be some truth to your theory after all, boss. What do we do now?"

Castle's head snapped up from its bowed position so fast he thought he was going to have whiplash.

"Boss?"

The guys gave a little shrug. "Beckett's not here so you get to be boss for a while."

Castle grinned a slightly evil grin at the thought of being the "boss" but then, he remembered why he was in this position.

"Well..."

They huddled in closer and to anyone else it looked like they were intent on fixing the espresso machine.

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**Ahem... Sorry, I think I may have gotten just a little bit carried away with the Castle/Demming argument... I was having fun writing it... And I kind of made him seem like an ass so sorry if that made any one mad... But I think this chapter turned out really well! Only a few chapters and I'll have finished my first more than 3 chapter multichapter story! Kyaaaa~! Its a miracle!**

**Also, Not sure if they actually do that partner thing in police academies but if they don't just pretend they do for now okay?**


	8. The Plan

**Did I...Did I actually write something that wasn't "Undeniable"? It's a miracle! Ehehehe... Sorry for you guys who have been waiting for updates on this story... and my other ones... "Undeniable" has kind of been consuming me since I got the idea for it...**

**I DO NOT OWN CASTLE!**

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10:00 AM Third Day

Kate Beckett woke up once again with a sore neck from sleeping in the same dirty bathtub as she had been for the last... However many days she had been kept there. She still had no idea what time it was or how long she had been there but she knew that her sleep patterns were going to be so messed up after all this. She did know that it had been a long time since she had eaten, if the growling of her stomach was any indication. The last time she had eaten was quite a few hours before she went to sleep, and judging by the severity of her sore neck, she had been asleep for quite a while.

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11:00 AM Third Day

By this point, Demming was completely frustrated and angry by their lack of progress on finding Beckett. Not to mention he was getting increasingly suspicious, and irritated, at Castle and his two lackies. They had been 'sneaking' around for the last hour and Demming was torn between yelling at them to stop fooling around, and letting them do what they wanted so they would stay out of his hair. After all, it's not like they were actually doing anything useful anyway. Castle had been literally doing nothing other than playing with the 'kidnap' board while Ryan and Esposito were slightly more helpful since they were looking up information but he could have any number of other officers to do that.

Maybe it was just this case getting to him, or maybe it was thoughts of the whole Castle/ Beckett interaction, getting to him but, he couldn't even look at Castle anymore without wanting to strangle some sense into him. How could keep making jokes and act like all this was just a game to him? Beckett's life is at stake, did he not even care? Demming would never understand why Beckett didn't just kick him to the curb already. Or how she put up with his crazy theories. So maybe Castle had gotten to him a little bit and he had asked Jesse to stay all night at the precinct but, Jesse was happy to help and didn't complain at all the extra work so now, there was no doubt in Demming's mind that Jesse _wasn't_ their guy.

But, thoughts like that were for another time as he snapped back to reality and started bossing his men around again. Deciding to let Castle waste his time on this silly theory, Demming rushed to Detective Grubbs' side when he signaled that he had found something.

He didn't know it yet but, it was just another fake lead planted to make sure that he didn't open his eyes and see the truth that was right in front of him.

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12:00 PM (Noon) Third Day

Something that Castle had learned both in daily life, and while shadowing Beckett, was that the more complicated the plan was, the more ways it could fail. So, instead of some big elaborate scheme, his plan was rather simple.

First, they would find out where Jesse Clark lived, which was easy to do after they snuck into the captain's office and just happened to find the file where the addresses of all the members of the precinct were kept. Well, at least it should have been easy.

"It's locked!" Muttered Ryan as he tried to open the door of the filing cabinet that held the folder they were looking for. Both Castle and Esposito left their door guarding positions and went to go see that it was, in fact, locked.

"Can we pick it without the Captain knowing?" Castle's question was quickly responded to. "No, it's a high grade lock and this sucker is locked up tight."

"Well of course it's locked, wouldn't want nosy _people_ accessing confidential information now would we, boys?"

The three, completely incapable, spies turned towards the Captain with matching 'deer in the headlights' expressions.

"S-s-sir! We were just…"

"Save your pathetic excuses and just tell me what the hell you were trying to accomplish by sneaking around in my office!"

The guys looked at each other, then Ryan and Esposito settled on looking at Castle who, as their unofficial leader/boss for the time being, spoke up.

"Can we shut the door first? We don't need others to overhear this. It would completely and utterly ruin our plan."

Slightly skeptical but curious, Captain Montgomery reached behind him and pulled the door shut, locking it with a loud click.

"Plan huh? Why do I feel like I should just turn around, leave now, and not get involved in this?"

"Well you see sir, we need some information that's in a file you have."

"Castle, all the files are in the computer system, why couldn't you just look it up on there?"

It was Esposito who decided to speak up this time. "Not this file sir, we need to know something that isn't exactly… Accessible to the whole precinct."

"Such as?"

"The file with the addresses of all the officers who work in the precinct."

Ryan answered him but regretted it just a moment later as what they said sunk in.

"No, no that information is confidential. I can't just give that out! Why would you even need that anyway?... Wait… No, you guys can't possibly… You can't think that one of us took her?"

In complete unison the three guys nodded before Castle spoke up once again.

"More specifically we think it's a certain detective friend of Demming's."

"Castle… I know Demming isn't exactly your favorite person right now but, you can't go after him, and by extension, his friends just because of that. Demming and Beckett are dating now, Castle, he would have no reason to hurt her."

Castle visibly cringed when the Captain said that but pressed on anyway. "I'm ninety nine percent sure that Demming doesn't have anything to do with this but Jesse-"

"No buts, Castle. I'm sorry but I can't help you this time."

"I'm sorry sir but, we are with Castle on this one. It seems farfetched but this theory is the best thing we have so far." Esposito and Ryan quickly rattled off the evidence that they had so far: The cherries, the letter, and the police academy. When they were done, the Captain just looked at them for a few minutes, weighing the details in his mind. Normally, there was no way that meager details like that would sway him but it was one of his best Homicide Detective's life on the line. Taking a deep breath, he made his decision.

"I'm going to walk out of this door and spend roughly five minutes fixing me a coffee with that amazing machine that you call an espresso machine. When I get back everything better be exactly as I left it, alright?"

Castle looked more than a little disheartened at that but then he felt the cool metal of keys being pressed in his hand and the Captain gave him a little smile before walking out the door.

"Well, looks like we have roughly five minutes to find this file so, let's get to it!"

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12:45 PM Third Day

The second part of their plan was to go out to his house while Jesse was at work. It was highly unlikely that she was actually at his house, but they might find something there that could tell them where she was at. Or at least something they could use as more evidence.

After successfully, even with the slight scare with the Captain, finishing the first part of their plan, adrenaline was running high and they wanted to leave right then but, Ryan pointed out that Jesse would be going to lunch soon and they didn't want to be caught at his house if he decided to go back to his house during his lunch break.

So they waited. And waited and waited and finally Demming let him go for his lunch break where they proceeded to stalk him, hoping to find something useful. As their luck would have it, Jesse did nothing suspicious during his break, unless you count him getting back in line at the fast food place he was at, as if he was going to buy something else before looking down at his watch and realizing that he needed to get back to the precinct. That was a little strange but they didn't really know how that could be important so they just filed it away for later.

As they followed him back to the precinct to make sure he actually went there and stayed there, Castle was starting to have doubts again. Jesse acted like a normal person on his break, not like someone who had kidnapped a coworker for reasons yet unknown and had her locked away somewhere. Then again, what did a person who did that act like? Doubts aside, they were already too deep in their plan, they couldn't back out now so, they headed back out of the precinct, intending to go straight to Jesse's house when their plans were halted yet again. This time by a short, very pissed off, medical examiner who had just walked into the precinct.

"What the hell? I leave on a, very well deserved mind you, four day vacation and I come back to find out that my girl has been kidnapped? Someone better tell me what the hell is going on here or I'ma smack all you!"

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**Don't you just love Lanie? I was writing this chapter and realized that there was a distinct lack of Lanie in this story... (At least, I hope there was a lack... I hope that I didn't put her in earlier but forgot about her... That would be totally embarrassing...)**

**This ones a little shorter that past ones I think, but the next chapter is like the crescendo, or the top of the mountain. Next chapter we will take the last steps to the peak of the mountain then make our way back down in the chapter after that. So in other words, its almost over! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah~! I'm sad to see it go! I'm thinking two maybe three more chapters.**

**Next chapter will be pretty long (probably) so it's going to take a little while before I get to write it.**


	9. The Relief

**One more chapter to go! I'm kinda sad to see this story be finished...**

**I DO NOT OWN CASTLE!**

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_Doubts aside, they were already too deep in their plan, they couldn't back out now so, they headed back out of the precinct, intending to go straight to Jesse's house when their plans were halted yet again. This time by a short, very pissed off, medical examiner who had just walked into the precinct._

_"What the hell? I leave on a, very well deserved mind you, four day vacation and I come back to find out that my girl has been kidnapped? Someone better tell me what the hell is going on here or I'ma smack all you!"_

"Uh, now isn't really the best time, why don't we talk about this in a little bit? We are kind of in the middle of something…"

Castle did his best to sidestep the ME but she wasn't having any of it and just kept ranting on about how someone should have told her about it sooner and that she shouldn't have heard it from Perlmutter. They were drawing some looks from people who were standing around in the lobby of the precinct but Lanie was either oblivious or just didn't care that she was making a scene. It didn't stop until finally, Esposito come over to her and dragged her off by the arm effectively shutting her up.

"We'll tell you about it in the car. But, we need to go now."

Castle and Ryan looked to one another, both wondering what just happened but followed them out to the car anyway and climbed into the backseat of the unmarked police car they had borrowed for their spy mission, as Lanie had already settled into the passenger seat and Esposito was driving.

"_Now_ will someone tell me what's going on here? What happened to her? Is she alright?"

It ended up taking the whole ride over to Jesse's house to fill Lanie in on all the details and in the end, she agreed that while they didn't have much to go on, Jesse was still suspicious and their best lead right now.

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Once they arrived at his house, and parked the car where it couldn't be seen very well, they were presented with yet another problem.

"So, how exactly did you guys plan to get into his house?"

"Uh…"

Exasperated, Lanie glared at them with her hands firmly planted on her hips. "You mean to tell me you didn't even think of how you were going to get in?"

"We may have forgotten that tiny detail… We can't break in without probable cause so, let's see if we can find a spare key anywhere?"

Lanie scoffed at him, as if they would be that lucky to find a spare key lying around.

Twenty minutes later Castle came around from the back of the house holding up a shiny metal key for them all to see.

"Look what I found hidden in a tree in the backyard, looks like luck is with us after all."

"In the tree? Creative I guess. Anyway, the longer we are here the greater chance of us getting caught so let's go in, look around for anything suspicious and get out, alright?" Everyone agreed with what Esposito said then watched with baited breathe as he turned the key in the lock and opened the door with a creak.

The guys, plus Lanie, quickly made their way inside where they split up to search different rooms. Esposito and Lanie took the upstairs and Ryan took the living room that they had walked into while Castle moved towards the back of the house to see what he could find.

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12:00 PM (Noon) Third Day

The bottom of the bathtub was horribly dirty but she was extremely tired of sitting and sleeping in the same position so eventually she gave up and positioned herself where she could lie mostly flat in the tub with her legs curled up by her. It was more comfortable than the position she had been in before, though not by much, and since there really wasn't anything else to do, she let herself drift off to sleep again, trying to ignore her growling stomach.

1:16 PM Third Day

_CRASH!_

The extremely loud sound had the two detectives and one medical examiner racing towards the back of the house where Castle was at, fearing the worst but when they got there they found Castle standing on one of the kitchen chairs with a shattered coffee cup on the floor in front of him.

"Castle? What the hell, man?"

Castle turned wide eyes to the group who were standing in the doorway, two of them holding their guns out in front of them.

"I knocked over a cup that was on the table but, that's not the problem! Shoot it! Shoot it!"

Raising an eyebrow, Ryan asked. "Shoot what, Castle? There's nothing here."

"The mouse! It's right over there! Kill it! I hate mice!"

It really wasn't the situation for it, they were trying to find their kidnapped friend after all, but Lanie couldn't hold back her laughter.

"Y-you…you're afraid of a cute little mouse?" She got out in between fits of laughter, to which he glared at her from his spot on the chair.

"Those things are not cute! Did you know they have lots of little teeth? _Sharp_ teeth?"

"Emphasis on the 'little' Castle."

He was about to launch into the story of the pet mouse he had when he was a small child that was, according to him, possessed by a demon and hated him but, all conversation was cut off as they heard a 'thunk' and the sound of rushing water resound from behind a door that was just a little ways off from the kitchen. Someone was here.

1:16 PM Third Day

A loud crash disturbed Kate's sleep but seeing as there was always some kind of noise going on in the house, thanks to the mice, and whatever else inhabited the place, she ignored it and was going to go back to sleep but she could have sworn she heard people talking.

In hindsight she could have just yelled from her position lying in the bathtub but her still partially asleep brain dictated that she needed to sit up first, so she did. Not being used to sleeping that way, she rose up too quickly and beamed the back of her head on one of the faucet knobs. Just her luck she managed to turn it enough where water came jetting out all over her since she had taken off the spout earlier. Now, not only did the back of her skull hurt like hell, she was completely soaked even though she had quickly turned off the water.

1:18 PM Third Day

Lanie was quickly pushed to the back of the group where she wouldn't be in the way if whoever was in there got violent, but still close enough that Esposito could keep a watchful eye on her. Once she was securely behind him and Castle, he nodded to Ryan to go to the other side of the door, which he did quickly. Judging by the position of the room, it was probably a bathroom so they waited a few minutes for someone to come out but no one did so the two trained detectives got into position and quickly opened the door. "NYPD!"

1:19 PM Third Day

Her vision was swimming from the blow to her head so Kate lied back down to give herself a chance to recover but apparently that wasn't going to happen because as soon as her head touched the cool, dirty, bathtub, the bathroom door was thrown open with a very familiar shout.

She must have blacked out for a few minutes because the next thing she knew, she was being lifted out of the tub and into the arms of a writer. The back of her head was starting to hurt less and her vision was slowly focusing and soon she was able to look up at the very concerned face of Castle.

"Kate? Are you alright? Oh thank god we found you! Are you hurt anywhere?" He kept on with the questions but she could only think of one thing right now.

"What took you so long? I've been waiting _forever_!"

The whole group just shook their heads at her with a smile on their faces, they were all very relieved that she was alive and well, for the most part. Lanie caught sight of the blood dripping onto the floor first.

"Kate! You're bleeding a lot. We need to stop the blood so you need to tell me where it's coming from, honey."

Lanie rushed over to her while Ryan called for an ambulance. Kate raised her hand to the back of her head and pulled it away to see it covered in red.

"I-I woke up when I heard a crash and hit my head on one of those faucets knobs." Her vision was starting to fade again but Lanie was saying something so she tried to listen.

"That crash was writer boy here. Did you know he is afraid of mice?" Lanie was applying pressure to the wound now but it was just making it hurt worse. Still, Kate couldn't resist using this new found information.

"Really Castle? I suggest you don't pay much attention to that whole in the floor right behind you then."

He visibly paled at that and glanced over his shoulder at said hole before turning back around with a grimace. She smiled at that but she could feel herself drifting off to sleep.

"Castle! Keep her awake! We don't know how serious this is yet, but we can't let her sleep just in case."

He nodded to Lanie before holding Kate a little closer and brushing the hair out of her eyes, trying to think of what to say.

"Castle? Thank you."

"For what?"

As tired as she was she still found the energy to roll her eyes at him. "You are going to make me say it aren't you? Thank you for saving me."

His eyes lit up at that, partly because she actually thanked him for saving her but also because it gave him an idea of what to talk about to keep her awake until the paramedics arrived.

"True, I did save you. But, I couldn't have done it without your mother's help."

A grin spread across his face as she opened her eyes fully and focused her attention on him, his plan had worked.

"My…Mother? Are you sure you aren't the one who hit their head, Castle?"

"Nope, that was all you detective but, I'm serious. It was her ring and knowing how much she, and by extension it, means to you that lead me to realize that you hadn't just left town because that is really what it looked like when the guys called me to your apartment. I bravely fought the officer who was collecting evidence so that I could keep it and give it to you when we found you too. Though now, even if I give it to you now they will probably take it away at the hospital so how about I give it to you after the doctors are through with you?"

Kate looked at him hesitantly. "You kept it with you?"

"Yup, right here the whole time." He gestured to the middle of his chest where if she looked carefully she could see the faint circular outline of the ring through his shirt.

No one, except her father, had touched her mother's ring after Johanna had passed away. Kate wouldn't allow them too. Most people didn't even know about the ring and those that did knew not to ask to see it. She remembered the first time that Will had tried to touch it, she just about took his head off and wouldn't let him near her for days after that. Sure she had over reacted but it was one of the few things she had left to remember her mother by and she didn't want anyone else touching it.

Yet, Castle had not only touched it but had _worn_ it for however long she had been kept there and she found that she didn't mind. Maybe it was just the fact that she would rather him have it then it to be laying in an evidence box somewhere but in the back of her mind, she knew that wasn't it.

"I expect it back just as soon as they have stitched me up and there better not be a single scratch on it."

He nodded quickly and she focused on the outline of the ring she could see through his shirt until a few minutes later the paramedics came through the door, cut her free of those horrible shackles, and carted her off to the nearest hospital with her team not far behind.

* * *

**Okay, so not as long as I thought it would be but still pretty long. I was thinking about going ahead and writing the rest of it and having this be the last chapter but then decided I wanted to have the next part in a chapter all of its own.**

**I guess this might feel a little Anticlimatic but I couldn't imagine it ending up being a bit showdown with Jesse randomly showing up at his house while they were there. Sorry if any of you were expecting that but it was never in my plans to start with.**

**The bit about Castle being afraid of mice? So totally random... I didn't even think about that until I found myself writing that scene haha!**

**You know, when I first started thinking about writing this story I had honestly planned for Demming to find her with Castle but somehow it didn't turn out that way... Ah well. **

**Next chapter (Final!) The Confrontation **


	10. The Confrontation

**Annnnnnnnnnnnnd, Its completed! I finally finished my first fanfic that is more than 3 chapters long! It's amazing!**

**I DO NOT OWN CASTLE!**

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* * *

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The ambulance carrying their favorite homicide detective sped down the streets of New York until it finally stopped at a hospital and Kate was quickly rushed back into surgery, it was a head wound so they weren't taking any chances.

Castle and the rest had followed right behind the ambulance and while the paramedics were taking Kate back to an operating room, they settled into the hard uncomfortable chairs of the waiting room.

Twenty minutes later, much to the team's shock, Kate came walking out into the waiting room with a tall African American female doctor. The two came to a stop in front of the group as they quickly got to their feet. Before anyone could ask any questions, the doctor spoke up.

"The wound on her head wasn't nearly as bad as it looked. It only needed four stitches and surprisingly she doesn't have a concussion so she is free to go." Another ambulance was pulling into the drive way so the busy doctor hurried off to go take care of her next patient, leaving Kate standing in front of the group.

"What do you want to do now?" She thought about Ryan's question for a minute then answered.

"Since you guys found me, I'm assuming you know the guy and have arrested him right?"

"Well…About that… It's a little more complicated than that…"

Eyebrow raised, she replied. "How so?"

They spent the next few minutes filling her in on what had happened while she was gone, not leaving out a single detail.

* * *

A good thirty minutes later, Ryan, Esposito, and Castle stepped off the elevator into the homicide division of the twelfth precinct. The two detectives made their way to the Captain's office to report what had happened while Castle headed straight to Demming.

"Can we talk for a minute?" He glanced over at Jesse who was giving orders to some of the other cops then added, "Alone?"

Demming turned a weary gaze to Castle and took in the smug expression on his face. "Is this about your ridiculous theory?"

Castle nodded and Demming responded sharply. "No."

"But-"

"I said no. We've got a completely solid lead that we are following and just as soon as we get a little more information, we can go bust this guy. So, we don't need you and your ridiculous theories. Go play detective somewhere else and let the _real_ detectives do their job, okay?" He started out talking normally but as he went on he got louder and louder and by the time he got to the last sentence, the whole floor could hear what he said.

Those words definitely stung the writer but, he just shrugged and walked back towards the elevators where Ryan, Esposito, Lanie, and the Captain were waiting. He had tried to be nice and save him from total embarrassment but now? He was going to sit back and enjoy the show.

* * *

Once everything was explained to Kate, she decided that before she did anything, she desperately needed a shower so the boys went back to Jesse's house to collect some evidence to back up Kate's claim that he held her hostage there while Lanie and Kate took a cab back to her house so she could shower and change clothes.

Feeling much better after a shower, a quick snack, and dressed in a clean work suit, Kate was back to her old self and confidently strode into the precinct, with Lanie close at her heels, a few minutes after the guys.

They rode the elevator up and stepped out just in time to hear Castle and Demming's conversation. Not wanting to be seen just yet, Kate ducked out of sight and waited until her team gathered around her.

Then she attacked.

"Jesse Clark! You are under arrest for the kidnapping of…Well, me. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law!"

Jesse stood there staring at Kate, as if he had seen a ghost, as she walked up to him with Esposito and Ryan moving out from behind her to handcuff him.

Demming stood off to the side with a completely dumbfounded expression on his face. "Oh for the love of… You have got to be kidding me!" He threw his hands up in the air then turned to see a smirking Castle who gave him a cheery little wave before following Kate who had started moving Jesse to an interrogation room.

* * *

A few hours later, a slightly disturbed Kate stepped out of the interrogation room while Ryan and Esposito, with Castle tagging along, hauled Jesse down to the holding cells until everything was processed and he was sent away for a long time.

After Jesse realized that yes, Kate was there and no, she wasn't still locked up at his house, he broke down and confessed everything. But the thing that had Kate so disturbed was the fact that he did all this out of _love_ for her. At least that's what he had said, when in fact it was more of strong obsession with her that started when they were partners in the academy together. He had changed a lot from the young man that she was partnered with back then, so it was no wonder that she didn't recognize him.

When Jesse mentioned it, Kate remembered the sweet confession he had made to her near the end of their time together at the academy. Anyone would have been a fool to turn him down after that but, the only thing she had on her mind at that time was finding her mother's killer. Not once in their whole partnership did she think of him anymore than just a partner so she thought nothing of turning him down and then moving on when their time at the academy was over.

Apparently though, he wasn't quite ready to let her go. He had trained to be accepted into the missing persons division but after finding out that the precinct that Kate was going to didn't have any need for anymore people in that division; he switched to robbery just so he could follow her.

For years he was content with watching her from afar, watching her grow to be one of the best detectives in the precinct. He watched her be the best for so long he started thinking that she was better than everyone and he started thinking that she deserved to be with someone that was so much better than everyone else, meaning that he would never have a chance with her so he left her alone.

Then Castle showed up. Jesse was livid when he found out that a mere writer got to follow her around and flirt with her all day but she clearly didn't return his affections so Jesse decided that Castle wasn't a threat and went back to peacefully watching her from afar.

Then she did something unspeakable in his mind. She started dating Demming. Demming! The man who was just like him! Who was a friend, of sorts, to him. A man who was no better than he was yet, when he approached Kate one day with some sort of meager excuse, she didn't even look twice at him.

That was the last straw for Jesse who just snapped. Why should Demming get to be with her? She was supposed to be with someone that was better than all them, so Jesse reasoned, if she wasn't going to be with someone better then she might as well be with him.

So, slightly disturbed that she had practically been stalked without knowing it for years, Kate stepped out of the interrogation room intending to find Castle to get her mother's ring back, as she was sorely missing the comfort it brought right now but when she stepped out, Demming was waiting for her.

"Hey… Looks like you got quite the admirer there. I would have never thought a good honest cop would do something like that."

Kate moved to lean on the wall opposite him with her arms crossed before fixing him with a steady look.

"So I've heard. You didn't think for one minute that he could have been responsible?"

"Of course not! He's a cop that's never done anything wrong in the years that I have known him. You would have thought the same if you were in my position."

"No, I wouldn't have. I would have followed the lead, no matter how unlikely it seemed." There was one thing Kate Beckett hated the most in the world and that was detectives who didn't think outside of the box, then tried to fit everything into said box and that was exactly what he was doing right now.

"Oh, so you mean to tell me that if Castle had come up to you and told you that he thought a cop that had done nothing wrong had kidnapped a fellow detective, you would listen to him?"

"Yes." That was the answer, plain and simple.

"Kate, we are detectives. Trained to look at the evidence and draw a _logical_ answer from them. We don't have time to listen to stupid writers and their insane theories. It's a wonder that you ever solve cases with him around, spouting theories like that all the time."

He had moved closer to her but she merely shifted her position a bit and gave him a blank look.

"He was right wasn't he?" Demming didn't know what to say to that so she continued on. "Look, I know you have a problem with Castle but this is never going to work between us if you two can't play nice. I heard what you said to him earlier when he was just trying to tell you what had happened and I'm sorry but I won't stand for you insulting and hurting my friend and partner like that." Her calling Castle her 'partner' shocked her just as much as it did Demming. He stood there, barely two feet away, and stared at her for a while before his eyes hardened as if he had made a decision.

"You are right. This won't work out between us with Castle in the way. I'm sorry to make you do this, but I feel that it's necessary; you have a choice to make Kate. It's either me or him. You can't have both."

Her face fell into a small frown as she regarded the man in front of her. He was everything that she always thought that she wanted in a man. Plus, he was a detective too so he knew her job and understood that her life was dedicated to her job. He was sweet and funny when he wanted to be yet, could be serious enough to head an investigation into her disappearance.

So, when it came down to what matter the most, it wasn't hard to make a decision.

* * *

After the interrogation was over, Ryan and Esposito took Jesse down to the holding cells and Castle followed them because he wanted the satisfaction of seeing him behind bars. After he was securely locked up, the guys went back to their desks while Castle went to go find Kate since she wasn't at her desk like he figured she would be.

He look around for her until he found her in the hallway having what looked like a meaningful conversation with Demming seeing as he was way too close to her for Castle's comfort. And just like that he was reminded of his thoughts, and decision, he had made before he had gotten that call from Esposito. Watching the two of them together reminded him of why he had come to the decision to leave in the first place. Castle turned on his heel to go back to the bullpen and leave them alone when he realized he could hear them and heard Kate speak his name.

"Look, I know you have a problem with Castle but this is never going to work between us if you two can't play nice. I heard what you said to him earlier when he was just trying to tell you what had happened and I'm sorry but I won't stand for you insulting and hurting my friend and partner like that."

Castle felt like he was on cloud nine after hearing her claim that he was her partner, but quickly came back down to earth as Demming started speaking.

"You are right. This won't work out between us with Castle in the way. I'm sorry to make you do this, but I feel that it's necessary; you have a choice to make Kate. It's either me or him. You can't have both."

_It's a good thing I was already planning on leaving, this way I can leave before Demming tries to get rid of me._

Castle knew he should have turned around right then and left before his fears were confirmed but he couldn't get his legs to listen to him so instead, he stood at the end of the hall, out of sight, and listened with baited breath until she spoke.

"Castle."

Castle flinched, thinking that she had caught him spying on them but she never turned his way, instead she stood staring straight at Demming, a small smile on her face.

"Wh-What?" Demming stammered out in shock and Castle realized that he hadn't been caught, that that had been her answer.

"Castle. That's my answer. You made me choose so I chose. You said I couldn't have both so, goodbye detective."

With that, Kate turned on her heel and walked off down the hallway, unknowingly straight towards Castle who quickly backpedaled out of the hallway and rushed over to his place by her desk. Esposito, Ryan, and Lanie who had come back up to the homicide division after the interrogation was done to find out why Jesse did it, all looked at him with questioning looks but he quickly motioned for them to not say anything about it then quickly acted normal as Kate came out of the hallway and headed straight for her desk.

* * *

Castle and Kate sat at her desk for hours after Lanie and the guys had left. Apparently being kidnapped for three days meant there was massive amounts of paperwork to catch up on and Kate had been working intently, ignoring Castle who was sitting in his chair looking rather smug.

They worked like that for a while longer until Kate suddenly looked up at Castle, then held her hand out expectantly. When Castle just looked at her hand confused, she explained.

"My mother's ring. You never gave it back after the hospital like you were supposed to."

His eyes lit up in realization then reached up to pull the chain with the ring over his head, placing it in her waiting hand when it was finally off. She took it and held it close to her face, examining it for scratches before deciding that it was in no worse shape than it was before he had it.

She slipped it over her head and felt as it settled in its normal place on her chest before turning her attention back to him.

"So, do I want to know why you've been staring off into space with that goofy grin on your face for the last hour or so?"

"Probably not. But since you asked, I was thinking of a new idea for Nikki Heat. Nikki gets kidnapped and Rook goes to save her alone and after an epic battle with the bad guy he finds Nikki trapped in the bathroom. Naked. So he rescues her and she's so happy that he found her that-" She cuts him off with a glare and a roll of her eyes.

"I was right. I didn't want to know."

That wasn't what he was really thinking about but, there was no telling what she would do to him if he told her he was thinking about her conversation with Demming. Still he couldn't help it when he opened his mouth next.

"I've told you what I was thinking about so what are you thinking about?"

She sat back in her chair and gave him a questioning look. "Why would I tell you that?"

"Well, I was thinking that we should know more about each other's thoughts."

A raised eyebrow was the only response he got to that so he continued.

"I think we should get to know each other a little better now since after all, we are partners." He grinned the classic Castle grin and Kate felt her face go up in flames as she realized he had heard her talking to Demming.

Thankfully, she was saved from having to respond right then as her phone rang and she answered it with her normal greeting. As she listened to the voice on the other line she pulled a notepad closer to her and quickly wrote down an address. She hung up the phone then stood up and put her jacket on. When she turned around, Castle was already set to go, so without a word to him she walked off to the elevator with him faithfully following her.

Once the elevator doors shut and they were alone, Castle turned to her.

"So…" He drug out the 'O' in the word and Kate just knew he was going to ask something potentially embarrassing about what she had said to Demming earlier so she tried to prepare herself but it did nothing to prepare her for what he said next.

"Esposito and Ryan are partners and he lets Ryan drive sometimes so since we are partners now does this mean I get to drive? Please?"

Not what she was expecting but it was so typically Castle that she should have been expecting it.

"No."

"But! But, Beckeeeeeeeeett." He whined all the way down until they were in the car then he pouted from the passenger side all the way to the crime scene.

They still had a long way to go in this strange relationship of theirs but, they were back on the right track and right now, that's all that mattered to the detective and writer.

_~FIN~_

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**I had no idea how I was going to end this when I started writing this chapter but it just sort of all came together as I got nearer to the end. I hope the explanation about Jesse was understandable but basically he sort of idolized her but was in "love" with her too then when Demming who was just like him got to be with her and he didn't, he snapped and kidnapped her.**

**So, probably not the completely mushy and/or sappy ending some of you were probably wanting but something like that just didn't seem right here... **

**Now, I don't really know what to do... I know I should work on my other stories but I've been working on this one for over two months (Whoa, seems a lot longer than that...) and now that its finished... I don't know, seems kind of empty lol! **

**Now, a question for all of you fans of this story, would you be interested in reading a story where Castle gets kidnapped this time? With the kidnapper having similar motives as Jesse? Its just a vague idea that I had a while back and I don't even know if anyone would want to read it lol! And I really need to work on my other stories but working on a story that is focused on something other than Castle and Beckett's romantic progress is kind of nice...**

**Don't be shy! Leave me a review and tell me what you think! Please? **


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